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Topic: Little Black Egg (Read 378881 times)

Ok eggheads, i got my Weber and burner the other day. I was thinking about the problems associated with bottom heat buffer and transfer to the sides and over the top. My dad has a welding shop and i can fabricate whatever i like, so i came up with this, please tell me your thoughts. Take a 10-12" pipe and weld it or cut it to fit the base of the burner, come up 6-8 inches with some rebar, then add a steel plate cap. So your heat will rise up the pipe , hit the plate and be forced to the sides. I would still add a shelf for the stone to rest on ( not in drawing ) . What do you think? Will it help? Is it worth doing?

As far as the lid goes, i was thinking a steel or aluminum plate. From the bottom of the lid, how high do you recommend mounting it? 3-4 inches ok?

Also, i ordered the Bayou classic sp10, i now see it comes with a 10lb regulator, is this enough power? I know some guys went with the 20lb.

Sort of looks like you will be adding to the bottom burning problem by concentrating the heat up through that pipe.

In your drawing, at the bottom of your 12in pipe, what about replacing the pipe with a thick(3/8?) say 8in round piece of plate? That would sit on the Bayou grate a few inches above the burner, right?Or has this already been tried?

Sort of looks like you will be adding to the bottom burning problem by concentrating the heat up through that pipe.

In your drawing, at the bottom of your 12in pipe, what about replacing the pipe with a thick say 8in round piece of plate? That would sit on the Bayou grate a few inches above the burner, right?Or has this already been tried?

Bob

Hmm? Good question. Just thinking of a way to buffer that direct flame. And have it as a permanent part of the unit. Maybe do away with the pipe all together and come off the bayou stand 5-6 inches with some rebar "feet" then a deflector plate???Just thinking here, i have yet to make a cut.

Bert logged off....but, yes, that is what he is talking about. I think you would probably get better use of your heat with Bert's idea versus the small plate down low that I had just talked about. Especially since you have the smaller regulator...just might be all you need.

Good idea! I might have to try that. I am making progress today. Made the bottom and top cuts. I added something i have not seen yet, where the Weber meets the bayou grate, i cut notches in the weber to make it fit down in the bayou grate. I was careful to make them tight, with a rubber mallet i set the weber in place. I can now pick it up as one piece. See attached photo.

A question i ran into with the lid, i went with the 22" (probably should have used the 18) but a 16" aluminum pan sits pretty high in the lid. Gives me about 6-7" from cooking surface to aluminum lid. Too much? I see they sell 19 and 20 inch pizza trays. What kind of distance are we looking for between pizza and top stone or pan?

I added something i have not seen yet, where the Weber meets the bayou grate, i cut notches in the weber to make it fit down in the bayou grate. I was careful to make them tight, with a rubber mallet i set the weber in place. I can now pick it up as one piece. See attached photo.

I think Chau was the first with that one...

You have a burner capable of 140,000+ btu in case you did not know... (I have the same with adjustable 30lb. regulator)

Yep, but that's a good way to mount.You'll find that many, many things have been tried...and that is good too.Notice that there is yet to be a Super Duper tell all thread on this type of build...it is always great when someone like yourself, Moose, comes along with some fresh ideas and want's to take a crack at it. I enjoy it and many others do too, thanks man. I hope you have fun and nail this baby!

Haha, thanks Bob! We will see i suppose, what are your thoughts on lid plate height? 3-4 inches above cooking area? I am sure there is no magic number. Seems every egg is a little different, just trying to get close right off the bat.

Haha, thanks Bob! We will see i suppose, what are your thoughts on lid plate height? 3-4 inches above cooking area? I am sure there is no magic number. Seems every egg is a little different, just trying to get close right off the bat.

My build is in the works too.I'm not crazy about the lid use and it's different shaped plate air deflectors.I'm going with the "C-ring" that employs another stone that is placed on top of the 3in. tall ring. I believe it was last discussed about 7-8 pages back.

At least a couple of people who posted in this thread used firebrick splits like that (9 inch x 4.5 inch x 1.25 inch) as a baking surface. You might search within this thread for "firebrick" to see what their results were. I don't recall what their experience was.

You'll need a sturdy platform to support firebricks so that they remain level. I think your warm up times may be longer relative to using a cordierite kiln shelf or a pizza stone as a baking surface. Scott123 discussed a lower-conductivity firebrick in post #1895 that he felt might be a better choice than even cordierite. Lower conductivity will help you to balance the bottom and top baking of the pizza more easily, which seems to be the biggest challenge in tuning an LBE.

Some people have used firebricks or clay tiles as a flame buffer or spreader below their baking surface too, and I recall that at least some of them ended up removing them. I don't recall why.

I am planning on cutting a steel plate for a base, then go from there. Possibly a lazy susan bearing with a pizza stone on top. Or fire brick like these or something similar. Still not sure where this will end up.

Another question please, can this Cordierite kiln shelf material be cut with a tile saw?I see they make a 21" round, i already have a tile saw and could cut the back off of it.